Drive safely, the life you save may be mine.

Why is it that as we get older we lose some of what we’ve learned from our parents. Our parents taught us to be honest, trustworthy, kind, and to treat others as we would like to be treated. Today we use programs like NCPC’s Circle of Respect to teach our children to respect themselves, respect their family and friends and to respect their community. The reason I’m writing on this topic is because I commute a long distance to and from work each day and I’ve seen people acting like they don’t care about anyone and don’t care what they do while driving. Would they treat their family the same as they treat their fellow commuters with little to no respect? Would they speed up if a family member was trying to change lanes? I don’t think so, so why is it they treat others differently when they’re behind the wheel. If it were a family member would they cut someone off and then wave without using all their digits? I don’t think so.  Would they follow so closely to the vehicle in front of them that you would never have time to stop safely? I don’t think so. So why is it that when driving we forget what our parents taught us and what we taught/teach our children? Is it that we’re not the same person when we are driving but change into Dr Jekyll? Whatever the reason, late, tired, sleepy or just not paying attention, we have to change. Treat your fellow commuters with a little respect, when you see someone trying to change lanes, let them in, don’t follow too closely and when someone allows you to cut in front of them give them a little wave to say thanks and yes, use all your digits, but most importantly respect yourself. One thing I’ve learned, traffic congestion isn’t going to go down, if anything it is going up, so as more and more of us commute let’s get back to basics and respect each other as we were taught. I should also bring to your attention that most of these driving habits, like speeding and aggressive driving are crimes and may be punishable by fines, loss of license or jail time. Lastly, I see people on their cell phones, or texting, and other distractions that are also often considered crimes. The Wireless Foundation is making combating these distraction issues a high priority and we are here to help them get the word out. Drive safely, the life you save may be mine.